Free printable food and symptom diary

A food and symptom diary shows what you ate next to how your gut felt afterwards. This one also records your cycle day, so you and your doctor can see if bloating, pain or bowel changes follow food, your period, or both.

By Endolog Content Team

Page 1 of the food and symptom diary: two days, each with rows for the time, food and drink, symptoms after, bowel movement and notes, and fields for cycle day, bleeding, sleep and stress.

Free PDF · 4 pages · US Letter · prints in black and white · no email needed.

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What is on the sheet

  • 7 days, 2 days on each page
  • The time, what you ate and drank, and how much
  • Symptoms after each meal from 0 to 3, such as bloating, pain and nausea, and when they started
  • Bowel movements: hard, normal or loose, and if it hurt
  • Cycle day, bleeding, sleep and stress for each day
  • A weekly review: patterns, foods you suspect, and questions for your doctor or dietitian

How to fill it in

  1. Print the 4 pages and keep them where you eat.
  2. Write down each meal or drink soon after you have it, with the time.
  3. Rate any symptom that follows from 0 to 3, and write when it started.
  4. Each evening, fill in your cycle day, bleeding, sleep and stress.
  5. After 7 days, fill in the weekly review and take the diary to your appointment.

Why this helps

For IBS, the advice is to keep a diary of what you eat and any symptoms you get, so you can find the things that set off your symptoms.

Gut symptoms can also come from endometriosis. Period-related bowel symptoms, in particular painful bowel movements, are one of the signs that should make a doctor think of endometriosis. The cycle day column shows if your symptoms follow your period. Read why bowel endometriosis is often mistaken for IBS.

If you need to avoid lots of different foods to control your symptoms, see a doctor, who may refer you to a dietitian.

Questions

Is this food diary for IBS or for endometriosis?

Both. The food and symptom columns work for IBS. The cycle day and bleeding fields show if your gut symptoms follow your period, which matters for endometriosis.

How long should I keep a food and symptom diary?

This diary holds 7 days. Print it again to compare more weeks, for example a week with your period and a week without.

Should I stop eating a food that seems to cause symptoms?

Talk to a doctor if you need to avoid lots of different foods to control your symptoms. They may refer you to a dietitian.

Is this medical advice?

No. The sheet is a record to share with your doctor. It does not diagnose any condition or replace care from a doctor.

Related guides

Prefer your phone?

Endolog, a pain and symptom diary app keeps the same records on your iPhone and makes a PDF report for your doctor.

Sources

  1. Diet, lifestyle and medicines for IBS (irritable bowel syndrome), NHS
  2. Endometriosis: diagnosis and management (NG73), recommendations, NICE

This printable is for keeping a record. It does not diagnose any condition or replace care from a doctor. Read how we write and check our content in our editorial policy.

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